Re: Program structure of Pstricks, what is its basic structure?

From:

Crashedandburnt

Subject:

Re: Program structure of Pstricks, what is its basic structure?

Date:

22 Feb 2004 19:53:00 -0800

Herbert Voss <address@hidden> wrote in message news:<c1a78u$6bm$01
> The problem is, that there is no documentation about this
> low level structure.
I am sorry to report a telephone conversation that I had some years
ago with
the author of this package. I vaguely remember his exact name, Timothy
van zandt or sth like that. But what I clearly remember is that he was
some kind of
economist and wrote this package to write his book(s). He said that
Leslie Lamport has made millions from his LaTeXbook and he expects
[big] money for his package. He said that he has not released
documentation on the package and will not release the documentation on
how it works. I asked how he knew LL had made million? He said, just
look at the printings, it has over a million. Assuming LL gets a
dollar for the royalty, he has made a million bucks.
The conclusion I want to present to the readership is the following.
Only Richard Stallman, and Linus Trovalds are the true gnu/free
software people.
Gnu is coming with good books and manuals on the software.
But Donald Knuth and others are all using free software slogan for
their virus software. The Texbook is not available free, LEGALLY. It
cannot be re-formed. Knuth has made millions off his books. Omega and
Lout are emerging as strong competitors to TeX. Unless there is real
free software, with good documentation on its usage and implemenation,
it is not free software, but a virus software.
If a group of volunteers want to save TeX/LaTeX, what is needed is to
combine
existing free manuals into a single good and comprehensive free
manual. I can assure you, if it is free, tons of people will
contribute to it, and Knuth+Lamport+Timothy's books and manuals will
be obsolete overnight. What we need is a trust worthy coordinator like
Mr Richard Stallman.
Knuth's book is scrap. It is convoluted by malice or twist of his
mind. It mixes advanced usage with basics. For contrast, compare, for
example, the Adobe cookbook or thinking in postscript. I pick
postscript because it is as extensive as TeX in its functions. CB has
a very nicely organized glossary. Knuth wrote his book to impress his
colleagues so that he can get an early retirement from Stanford by
dominating his colleagues. This is exactly what the abuse of software
to control the world is, and what Richard Stallman is crusading
against. Gnu is now active in the next phase of its mission which is
quality documentation. But since TeX is not FSF software, they are not
likely to focus on it. Someone active in this group is gonna have to
do that.
crashed and burnt